Cubs' bullpen needs some saving

CINCINNATI - When it comes to his bullpen, Cubs manager Lou Piniella doesn't have many options right now.

Chalk that up to some gross miscalculations by the front office.

When this season opened, the Cubs had rookies Esmailin Caridad, Justin Berg and James Russell in the pen along with Jeff Samardzija, a young pitcher who remains a work in progress.

General manager Jim Hendry also signed veteran lefty John Grabow to a two-year, $7.5 million contract. Grabow came to the Cubs last July in a trade with Pittsburgh, where he pitched in relative obscurity and with little pressure for parts of seven seasons.

Grabow has been ineffective much of this year, and he missed two games over the weekend because of a knee problem. He has been supplanted by Sean Marshall as the primary left-handed reliever.

The young pitchers are trying (and Russell has pitched well), but they have neither the experience nor the big-league command they need to succeed in tight games. That's one of the reasons the Cubs were forced to take their opening-day starting pitcher, Carlos Zambrano, and put him in the bullpen.

"We knew that some of these young kids would possibly struggle, but it's just been more than what we anticipated," Piniella said before Sunday's 5-3 loss to the Reds. "And at the same time, we felt that if one or two struggled, one or two would take hold really, really well. But it hasn't been the case.

"It's been a general struggle. You can only go on what they did last year. We figured that we might have to juggle a little bit, but, boy, it's been rough on them. When we get in trouble, these innings go on a little bit too long."

The Cubs counted on Angel Guzman being their setup man from the right side, but he went down in the spring with possible career-threatening shoulder surgery after having to be shut down at the end of last season. Apparently, that was a warning sign the Cubs didn't heed.

And the Cubs appear guilty of the cardinal sin of judging Caridad on small, late-season samples from last year.

If Hendry has had a fatal flaw in his tenure as GM, it has been putting together a bullpen and overpaying for veteran relievers. See Mike Remlinger, LaTroy Hawkins, Scott Eyre, Bob Howry and Aaron Heilman.

Hendry will be under pressure to find a dependable veteran this year before things get too out of hand.

A lot of people's futures could be riding on what happens over the next few weeks.